What is Zero Waste?

Zero Waste… or Darn Close!

The big picture, long-term goal to eliminate 90% of waste or more from landfills and incinerators is often called “Zero Waste.” This has many benefits because the way we manage our resources impacts the environment on so many levels. According to the Grassroots Recycling Network, Zero Waste programs:

Redesign the current, one-way industrial system into a circular system modeled on nature’s successful strategies

Challenge badly designed business systems that use too many resources

Address, through job creation and civic participation, the increasing waste of human resources and erosion of democracy

Help communities achieve a local economy that operates efficiently, sustains good jobs, and provides a measure of self-sufficiency

Aim to eliminate, rather than just manage, society’s waste

Landfills are more than just an eyesore – like other industrial facilities, they can release hazardous air pollution that affects the health of nearby residents. Landfills also use thin liners that inevitably fail and leak toxic materials. According to the Texas environmental agency, 35 out of the 100 monitored landfills reported leaking toxins into groundwater in 2013, including the McCommas Bluff landfill along the Trinity River in Dallas. Zero Waste means a future where incinerators and landfills are things of the past.

But reducing waste is about so much more than our landfills here in Texas. There are huge climate change implications are well: according to the U.S. EPA, nearly 40% of greenhouse gas emissions in this country are related to materials and land management. Zero Waste means reducing our greenhouse gas emissions – in fact, this may be one of the most cost-efficient ways to cut our climate impact.

Changing our waste systems to continuously conserve resources is also powerful for the economy. According to the Tellus institute, recycling 75% of waste in the U.S. would create about 1.5 million jobs. In fact, for every 10,000 tons of garbage, only 1 job is created in a landfill compared to 10 to 200 times that many jobs in recycling and reuse. Recyclers as well as composting companies all over Texas are ready to hire and expand – all we need is the political will and public education necessary to grow this important component of a sustainable economy.

Austin was the first city in Texas to adopt a Zero Waste Plan, and advocates are working with city officials to implement and enforce it. The next step will be expanding the city’s curbside composting program to cover all residents.

Dallas passed its Zero Waste Plan in 2013. The Dallas Zero Waste Alliance is working to accelerate a critical part of this process – getting recycling for apartments and businesses.

Houston is working on a long-range plan for many city services, including waste and recycling, and advocates are urging city officials to include a Zero Waste Plan in this process.

San Antonio has implemented a new recycling program for apartments and a curbside composting program for residents as part of its “path to Zero Waste” approach.

Fort Worth is in the process of creating a 20-year waste and recycling plan, and advocates are urging city officials to include aggressive Zero Waste goals in this long-term plan.